Supernova Advisor Teams

CHAPTER 13Team Dysfunction: The Elephant in the Room

“Great teams do not hold back with one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.”

—Patrick Lencioni, best‐selling author of books on team management

One of the most significant factors impacting team success is having a strong leader. It's the team leader's responsibility to keep the team focused on its objectives and mission. In successful teams, team members share the glory and the fruits of everyone's contributions no matter how large or how small. This is important for team cohesiveness. In large organizations, if you review team performance distribution, it will look a lot like a bell‐shaped curve. Fifteen percent of the performers will be at the top of the performance distribution, 15% will be at the bottom, and 70% will be in the middle. The top 15% often get the rewards and accolades while the 70% in the middle receive very little in the way of recognition and accolades. Usually, the 15% at the bottom are made to feel inadequate. It's been said that if you eliminate the bottom 15%, there will be a new bottom 15% in the distribution of performance. The key is to make everyone feel that their contributions matter. This holds true at the micro level when you consider the performance of each team member. To the extent that the leader inspires and makes each team member feel valued, team synergy and breakthroughs can ...